Soft and flexible materials have attracted tremendous attention in wearable electronics, heat management, and batteries. However, most of these flexible materials are mainly composed of polymers or metals and would not be suitable for application in extreme conditions such as high temperatures and corrosive environments. Ceramics are well-known materials for application in extreme conditions. Unfortunately, due to the brittleness of ceramics, achieving flexible ceramics or ceramic composites with high inorganics content remains a challenge.

Concentric cylinder structure is common in biological systems such as scallion, the tracheid of wood, the spicule of Euplectella aspergillum, and bone haversian system. Such structure plays a significant role in improving high strength and toughness by increasing the fracture path and energy absorption. Therefore, it might be valuable to replicate the concentric cylinder structure of natural materials to the struts of man-made materials through 3D printing and realize the advanced manufacturing of the flexible ceramic composites.

Here, we proposed a strut design concept of regulating the microstructures of the 3D printed struts by manipulating the stress fields during the printing, and fabricated flexible ceramic composites with extremely high inorganics content (95%wt.). Due to the bioinspired concentric cylinder structures of the struts, the ceramic composites exhibited excellent flexibility, foldability, strength, and toughness. The flexible ceramic composites with fire and corrosion resistance abilities displayed anisotropic thermal management capability and notable sensing capability, making them potential as the heat management and sensor materials, breaking the limitation of flexible and soft materials for applying in extreme conditions.